Eat. @ Yokozuna

Chadstone Shopping Centre, 1341  Dandenong Rd, Chadstone 0425 115 581

We were sad to see Miam Miam go, but a new ramen place has popped up in its place.  Yokozuna says they are ramen experts, and we are keen to give any ramen place a go!   I love a good shopping trip to Chaddy and I love that there are now so many different cuisines and options for dining there.  We wandered in on a Saturday and were lucky to be served immediately as a party of five since a queue started up straight after we were seated.

We started with a couple of serves of karaage (Japanese fried chicken) ($6.9 for 4 pieces)  These were really, really more-ish when they're served hot, nice and crispy and perfect with the dipping mayo.

The Gyoza ($6.9 for 5 pieces ) were not as exciting.  The kids gobbled them down nonetheless so they did the job.

Hubby had the Ramen Red with pork ($11.9), which uses a pork and soy based soup with home made spicy mince pork on top.  Hubby says it's pleasant enough but not super spicy.

The Kids shared 2 bowls of noodles between the 3 of them, starting off with a Tonkotsu Ramen White ($11.9) with extra charsu ($4.9), which again was pleasant enough without being too salty or mild.

They also had the Torigara Ramen with teriyaki chicken ($11.9) which has a lighter, clearer soup.  I think they preferred the Tonkotsu but did not hesitate to finish this off either!

I actually wanted to have something different on the day and ordered a Salmon sashimi chirashi donburi with wasabi and ginger ($13.9), which I felt was a lighter option and was actually surprisingly filling.  

We were really happy to see that the Ice Matcha Latte with green tea softee ($6.8) from the Miam Miam days stayed on the menu as that was one of our favourite items to order from their menu. 

On another visit I tried out their Salmon Lovers Set ($15.9) which you can add a small udon for an extra $3.  The salmon was reasonably fresh and definitely better than Sushi Sushi next door but wasn't anything too special.

We're happy to see Yokozuna in Chadstone and hope it stays, as it gives shoppers a good choice to have relatively decent ramen fare in a shopping centre setting, albeit at a price higher than what I would usually pay at a shopping centre.  The staff cater well for children and they have high chairs and plastic serving ware for children as needed.   We've been back a few times when the queues have not been ridiculous and have enjoyed each of the meals. 

Eat. @ Hakata Gensuke

168 Russell Street, Melbourne CBD ph (03) 9663 6342

Woohoo!  Melbourne is really stepping up in the Ramen wars, and the latest ramen joint we checked out is the famed Hakata Gensuke.  I've wanted to try their ramen since they opened but have always been deterred by the long queues.  Especially difficult when we have three hungry kids in tow.  Luckily last Saturday we happened upon the shop at around 11:50am, quickly joined the queue and scored a table for 5 when the shop opened for business at midday.  

Not how you usually order!  Excuse the scribbles as we used one of the forms to enterain Bubs and Macaron Monster whilst we waited for the ramen to arrive!

To order you're given an order form per patron and from there you can pick how your bowl of ramen is made.  You start with the base, decide on variations on how you want the noodles and broth to taste, and then add on extras.  In this case we had the Signature Tonkotsu ($13), added Cha-Su ($5 for extra 3 pieces), seaweed ($1 for 3 pieces) and extra noodle ($2).  The broth was meaty, and the noodles cooked perfectly.

My favourite of the day was the Shio Tonkotsu ($13), ordered here with extra seaweed ($1), with the lighter, cleaner broth, as compared to the signature. The base bowl size is quite small and Hubby would definitely need the extra noodles to feel remotely full.

We also tried the Black Tonkotsu ($14) which was a black colored broth with a nutty flavour from the black sesame and roasted garlic paste.

We also ordered some sides.  The Hakata Gyoza (5 for $5, 10 for $9) were little mini morsels of flavoursome dumpling meat wrapped with a light pastry.  Very delicious but each gyoza was quite small and I could easily eat the whole 10 on top of a bowl of ramen!

The Chicken Karaage ($5) was 3 pieces of well fried chicken which was delicious and more-ish.  More, more, more!

Overall we really enjoyed the meal at Hakata Gensuke.  It was noisy, fast, crowded and tasty food.  Despite the small shop size and the busy turnover, the staff are quite accommodating to prams and small children.  My only quibble would be the need to line up, and the fact that it's more expensive - at $13 for a basic, smaller bowl of noodle (with only one thin slice of cha-shu), it costs around $20 to add on to create the same sized bowl of noodles that you can get for around 3/4 of the price at other quite acceptable ramen places in Melbourne.  Nonetheless I liked the delicious broth and the perfectly cooked ramen, and probably will be back as a party of 1 or 2 as the turnover is quite a lot faster for smaller parties.   

Toilets - yes
Highchairs - yes

Eat. @ Fukuryu Ramen & Shop Ramen

My kids love noodles and we're always looking for good ramen/udon places.  Here are 2 recent finds that have been quite good.

Fukuryu Ramen

Level 1, 22-26 Corrs Lane, Melbourne CBD 3000 ph (03) 9090 7149

Fukuryu Ramen (don't let your kids say this too quickly!) is literally a new kid on the block.  It opened recently in a first floor warehouse space.  There's quite a bit of seating and the red feature wall is adorned with a giant black dragon. (Fukuryu means lucky dragon)  You order at the counter and the food is delivered to your table.

From the small plates section we ordered tried the Nori Tofu ($4.9).  A relatively light tofu, with a side of kewpie mayo.  Personally I thought this could be better with a dash more salt.

The Pork Gyozas ($5.9) were pleasant enough.  Didn't knock my socks off but quite serviceable as a starter.

The Signature Tonkotsu Ramen ($9.9) is what will bring me back though.  The soup base is meaty without being overly so, and not as salty as others around town.  The Ramen is pleasantly chewy and reflects the freshness of the noodles.

Hubby prefers Miso to Tonkotsu as a soup so he had the Miso Ramen ($9.9) and this was very nice, with a serve of buttery corn goodness.  The soft boiled egg was nicely done.

Lastly we tried the Shio Ramen ($9.9) which was a lighter salted broth.  It definitely is not as tasty as the Tonkotsu or Miso but did indeed feel a lot lighter.  This was served with a couple of dumplings and a slice of pork.

We were lucky enough to have gone when they still had their opening special with free green tea soft serve.  We had to wait for these as they had run out but they were worth the wait.  I'd be happy to pay for these next time we visit.

There was a queue intermittently for ordering but there was quite a rapid turnover of tables when we visited at 12:30pm on a Saturday.  By the time we left they had run out of the Tonkotsu Ramen!!  Upstairs location will mean you need help negotiating the stairs with a pram.  Verdict - good sized bowls of ramen with tasty broth at a reasonable price.  The ramen is the star and the soft serve a great palate cleansing after act.

Toilets - Yes

Highchairs - Yes

Shop Ramen
329 Smith St, Fitzroy 3065

Shop Ramen is the permanent incarnation of the successful pop-up Shophouse Ramen.  We stopped here for dinner on the weekend when the weather turned to autumn with a slight chill in the wind.  Yep,  Ramen weather!

The menu at a glance was ramen-shop-with-a-twist.  Offerings included ramen, buns, milkshake and pie!  

So of course we started with a Salted Caramel and Coconut Milkshake ($8).  It was quite pricey but delicious, and the 3 kids shared so as not to get too full.  

The waitress was super friendly, and she let us know that they offer kids sized ramen off-menu at $4 a bowl.  This was a great idea as both Bubs and Macaron Monster are fans of noodles but usually not so keen on the meat and seaweed.   Mini Me also had a bowl of noodles but added beef brisket extra ($4).   The size of the serving was quite good for the price.  All the kids were happy.

Hubby had the Shoyu Ramen ($14) which had pork belly, king oyster mushroom, spring onion, watercress, nori and organic shoyu.  The broth was quite tasty and the soft boiled egg is again excellent here.

I tried the Kimchi Miso Ramen ($14) featuring Cape Grim brisket, kimchi, peanuts, bean shoots, grilled spring onion and marinated egg (you can add Kraft Single Cheese slice for $1 - I think this is a Korean thing!)  An interesting twist to the traditional ramen that was quite delicious, although it might have traditionalists like my Hubby scratching his head a bit.  

The shop is not very big and became packed shortly after we arrived.  By the time we left there was a line.  We didn't get to stay for pie (next time!) as the kids wanted to go to Gelato Messina.  Verdict - good bowls of hearty noodles, a little bit pricey but decent broths with a few non-traditional twists and an interesting mix with milkshakes and pie - somehow it works, it is Fitzroy afterall!

Toilets - yes